


Towels + Filth + Sleep

by TeddyTheCat



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Comfort, Disgusting smell, Gen, Hair Washing, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Hurt/Comfort, Rescue, Tumblr Prompt, jack will always take care of his kid, mentions of bodily fluids, whumpster-dumpster prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:06:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27390160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeddyTheCat/pseuds/TeddyTheCat
Summary: Jack finds Mac after he went missing and takes care of him.Shamelessly self-indulgent comfort.
Relationships: Jack Dalton & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 47





	Towels + Filth + Sleep

**Author's Note:**

  * For [N1ghtshade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/N1ghtshade/gifts), [EWM](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/gifts).



> This was inspired by following prompt by @whumpster-dumpster on Tumblr:
> 
> _I just want to see a whumpee with beautiful blonde/fair hair be found by their loved ones with mud, blood and other filth matted into their hair that makes it almost unrecognizable_
> 
> Thanks to N1ghtshade for her suggestion to do this to Mac and to EWM for coming up with the title. 
> 
> This is unbetaed and I'm not a native speaker, so please be kind ;)

It had been 10 whole days since anyone had last heard or seen anything from Mac. It had been equally as long since Jack had gotten any decent sleep. He’d been eating, drinking and sleeping the bare minimum to keep functioning enough to search for Mac.

That was why he didn’t immediately trust his eyes, when he spotted the unmoving figure that lay curled up in a fetal position in a corner of the tiny basement room he’d just broken into. Although the man looked nothing like his handsome and energetic best friend, Jack recognized him immediately. He gasped in horror, when he took in the shivers that repeatedly ran through the body on the ground. The smell almost took his breath away. Jack had seen and smelled more than his fair share of literal shitholes, but this combination of stale urine, excrements, sweat and who knows what else almost turned his stomach over.

Deliberately ignoring the layer of grime on the concrete floor, he dropped to his knees at Mac’s side. The young agent had been stripped down to his boxers, which were too filthy to even guess their original color. The rest of his clothes were gone. His entire body was covered in basically the same disgusting half-dried mixture and so was his hair. Thick strands were plastered to the kid’s forehead. Jack wrinkled his nose when he tried to brush it out of Mac’s face and it just kept sticking. Mac didn’t react to the soft touch and Jack’s worry went up a notch. He had to get him out of there now.

“Mac! Hey, buddy, can you hear me?” Jack asked and gently slapped Mac’s face. Mac groaned and stirred weakly, but Jack could tell that he wasn’t really with it. The ex-Delta quickly checked his partner over for any obvious injuries that would make an immediate rescue more dangerous than staying here for now, but then he decided that he didn’t have much of a choice anyway. He hadn’t managed to make contact with the Phoenix ever since their mission went south and their comms had blown out. In all honesty, he didn’t even know if anyone on their side was still looking for them.

_First things first._

“Come on, bud, let’s get you outta here.” As gently as he could, Jack put his arms under Mac’s shoulders and knees and lifted him from the filthy ground. The moans and feeble struggling cut deep into Jack’s heart. The kid’s head came to rest at Jack’s shoulder and Jack had to fight back nausea when a whiff of the filth in the blond’s hair assaulted his nose.

Jack carried Mac to the nearby flock of trees, where the unobtrusive rental car was hidden that he’d obtained under a fake identity. He deposited him in the passenger seat, covered him in his own jacket as good as possible and buckled him up. Mac had his eyes open and sometimes mumbled incoherently under his breath between moans and groans and chattering teeth, but Jack doubted that he was tracking much of what was happening around him. Jack slipped behind the steering wheel, started the engine and turned the heat to full blast.

If Jack had ignored every traffic law in existence, like he’d usually have done when he was driving his kid to safety, he could have reached his motel room in about 15 minutes, but he couldn’t risk attracting attention. He didn’t know whether local authorities or the people who had taken Mac - or both - were still after them. Blending in with the traffic meant that the ride took him almost half an hour. The only good thing about that was that by the time Jack parked the car in the parking lot in the run-down motel, the inside of the car was stiflingly hot and Mac’s shaking had subsided to an occasional tremor.

“There goes my deposit,” Jack sighed, half laughing. “You like ruining rentals almost as much as wrecking my phones, huh? But this… honestly! This is _disgusting!”_

Jack got out and helped Mac out of the car. He’d never appreciated a questionable accommodation more than in this moment. Nobody in this seedy place looked twice at them, although Jack was half carrying, half dragging someone who was not only barely dressed, but also looked semi-conscious at best and smelled as if he’d just been fished out of a pit latrine. They made it to Jack’s room without any incidents and Jack guided Mac straight into the bathroom. So far, Mac had been almost scaringly compliant, but when Jack sat him down on the closed toilet lid and started to help him out of the sorry remains of his boxers, Mac started struggling and kicking.

“Whoa whoa whoa, kiddo, it’s okay, it’s me, Jack. You’ve got nothing I haven’t seen before. Remember the army?” Jack humored him for now and helped him into the shabby bathtub. “It’s okay, if it makes you uncomfortable. Let’s get this gunk out of your hair first, what do you say?”

Mac looked at him and for the first time, Jack had the impression that he really saw him. “Jack? Ss’at you?” Mac asked hesitantly.

“Yay, that’s right! It’s Jack. Are you really with me?”

Mac blinked at him owlishly. “M here,” he replied tiredly.

“Hey, that’s great! Are you hurting anywhere?”

“M’fine,” Mac mumbled. Jack snorted.

“Yeah, sure you are,” Jack chuckled, “c’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.”

The older partner moved Mac over to sit on the rim of the bathtub and let the water run until it had an agreeable temperature. He then maneuvered his friend into the tub, where the latter tried to sit but slid down until his head rested on the rim and his legs folded up. Shower head in hand, Jack knelt down behind him and started to rinse the worst of the filth out before applying the first round of shampoo. As soon as the soft foam started to form under Jack’s hands, it turned a murky brown and Jack quickly rinsed it out. The next portion looked only slightly better. Jack kept lathering and rinsing the hair, until the foam stayed pristinely white.

Each time, he took a minute to gently massage the kid’s scalp with his fingertips. Mac’s initial resistance melted from him along with the tension in his body. By round three, Mac moaned blissfully and leaned into the soothing touch of Jack’s fingers.

Jack finally convinced Mac to part with what was left of his clothes and helped him clean the rest of his body. With the grime at last gone, the results of clearly several beatings became visible. Mac hissed and flinched at numerous tender spots when Jack examined them for injuries worse than bumps and bruises, which he thankfully couldn’t find. That wouldn’t stop them from hurting like bitches for a while, though, but at least it wasn’t anything life-threatening. This could have been so much worse, especially without any support from the Phoenix. Relieved, he helped the kid out of the tub and wrapped him in all the towels he could find to dry him off, towel turban on the head included. Jack smiled fondly. Mac looked 100% the kid he always called him.

Mac let himself be guided to the bed, where Jack helped him into a pair of his own sweat-pants and a shirt. There wasn’t a hair-dryer in the room, so Jack rubbed Mac’s hair as dry as it was possible with a towel. It was only slightly damp now and almost back to its usual warm honey-blond tone. Jack ran his fingers through it a couple of times, before he helped the kid lie down. He couldn’t resist the urge to tuck him in, which Mac couldn’t fight due to the fact that he was already fast asleep.

Jack only managed to shed his dirty shoes, pants and shirt and crawl into bed. He passed out almost instantly. He had his kid back. Alive. Safe for now.

They’d sort everything else out after a good night’s sleep.


End file.
